TDY Per Diem Rates Lookup — How to Find Yours Fast

Where Per Diem Rates Actually Come From

TDY per diem lookups have gotten complicated with all the conflicting guidance flying around. As someone who’s watched service members get burned by wrong rates, audit flags, and DTS settlement nightmares, I learned everything there is to know about this system. Today, I will share it all with you.

But what is a per diem rate lookup, really? In essence, it’s a search through one of three separate government databases depending on where you’re traveling. But it’s much more than that — it’s the difference between getting reimbursed correctly and spending six weeks arguing with finance over a $200 shortfall.

Here’s the part most people miss: there isn’t one system. There are three. The General Services Administration owns CONUS rates — continental United States. The Defense Travel Management Office handles OCONUS, meaning Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, overseas posts. The State Department Foreign Service per diem system covers countries without U.S. military installations. Each one publishes independently. Each has its own lookup tool. Each formats data differently. That’s what makes this process so maddening to service members who just want a number.

So, without further ado, let’s dive in.

Step-by-Step — Looking Up Your CONUS Rate on GSA

Probably should have opened with this section, honestly. Start here for travel anywhere in the 48 states, DC, or GSA-jurisdiction territories. Go directly to gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates. Don’t Google it. Bookmark that URL right now. You will absolutely need it again — at least if you do any TDY with any regularity.

The GSA homepage has a large search box at the top. Type your city. Las Vegas. Denver. Omaha. Whatever your orders say.

Frustrated by a city that returns zero results? That’s the first mistake most people make. They search, find nothing, close the tab, and call the travel office in defeat. Don’t make my mistake. Search by county instead. Gillespie County, Texas rather than Stonewall, Texas. County-level rates run lower than city-specific ones — usually 85 to 90 percent — but they’re fully legitimate and completely official.

Once your location loads, you’ll see a table. Three main columns: lodging, M&IE, total. Lodging is your hotel reimbursement ceiling. M&IE — meals and incidental expenses — is the daily allowance you keep without submitting a single receipt. Fixed amount. Not receipt-based. Add both columns together for your daily total.

Read the effective date. GSA updates every October 1. If you’re searching September 28th and the table already shows October dates, those new numbers apply to your travel. This catches people constantly — you approve a TDY assuming one rate, then DTS auto-populates the October figure when you actually submit. Screenshot both versions. Flag the difference with your travel office before it becomes a settlement problem.

Some cities also carry seasonal rates. A resort area in Florida might run $189 for lodging in January and $142 in July. The table shows effective date ranges for exactly this reason. Read those columns. Don’t assume one number covers the whole year.

How to Find OCONUS and Foreign Per Diem Rates

OCONUS is where everything changes. Forget GSA. You need DTMO’s lookup tool at dtmo.dc4m.mil — find “Per Diem Lookup” under travel resources.

The interface is straightforward. Type country and city. Kadena Air Base, Japan. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Camp Humphreys, South Korea. Results show three separate line items: lodging, M&IE, and incidentals. That third category is different from CONUS format — OCONUS incidentals appear as a standalone amount, usually $5 to $10 per day. Small number. Easy to miss. Over a 45-day TDY, that’s $225 to $450 you might leave on the table.

Seasonal rate swings hit harder OCONUS than anywhere else. Some countries see dramatic jumps around local holidays or peak travel periods. I’ve watched service members submit DTS authorizations using rates that expired the day before their travel started. That creates a mess during settlement — audits, corrections, frustrated finance clerks. The effective date column isn’t optional reading.

For foreign travel outside military installations, the State Department Foreign Service rates apply. Go to state.gov/travel/administrative-matters/hardship-posts-allowances. Clunky website. Authoritative rates. Search by country. The format shifts again — there’s a base rate plus a housing allowance component. Your travel office can help parse this one, honestly. Foreign civilian rates don’t come up often for active duty, but when they do, the format surprises people.

What to Do When Your Rate Looks Wrong or Is Missing

Stranded by a city that doesn’t appear in GSA or DTMO? Try these fixes in order.

1. Search by county, not city. If GSA returns nothing for your specific town, select the county. Document that you used the county fallback — write it in your DTS authorization comments. Finance wants to see that you followed procedure, not just that you picked a number.
2. Check the installation name. If you’re staying on or near a base, search the base name directly in DTMO rather than the nearest city. Fort Hood carries different rates than Killeen, Texas — same general area, different lookup entry. DTMO sometimes lists installations under their full official designation. Joint Base San Antonio, not just San Antonio.
3. DTS shows a rate contradicting your GSA lookup. Screenshot the GSA result with today’s date visible. DTS pulls live data but lags 24 to 48 hours behind GSA updates. GSA is your primary source of truth. Drop that screenshot into your authorization comments. Finance respects documentation.
4. Your orders list a different city than where you’re actually staying. Contact your travel office before departure. Don’t adjust the city in DTS yourself — some locations carry per diem differences of $50 or more per day depending on exact city code. Get written authorization for the change first. Make it official.
5. The location qualifies for a high-cost exception. Cities like San Francisco and New York sometimes carry temporary high-cost rate increases approved by the Secretary of Defense. These override standard GSA rates and require command approval. DTMO publishes the current exception list. If your city appears there, that exception notice needs to go into your travel authorization.

Confirming Your Rate in DTS Before Travel

I’m apparently the kind of person who screenshots everything, and DTS has never once burned me during settlement. Do your manual lookup first, then open your authorization and check what auto-populated.

Click into the lodging and M&IE fields individually. The numbers should match your GSA or DTMO result exactly. If they don’t — stop. Don’t submit. Add a comment citing your lookup result and the effective date. Attach a screenshot if the system allows. Finance reviews those comments before approval. That paper trail prevents settlement headaches that can drag on for weeks.

One last check worth doing: verify DTS isn’t pulling rates for a nearby civilian area instead of your actual installation. Camp Lejeune Marines sometimes see Jacksonville, North Carolina rates auto-populate instead of installation-specific figures. Different number. DTS gets imprecise near base boundaries. Catch that before you hit submit.

Do this right now — find your TDY destination and run a lookup on GSA or DTMO. Bookmark the result. Screenshot it. Have it ready before your next authorization. That one step, done once, eliminates roughly 90 percent of per diem settlement problems before they start.